Taxes on my bill

It sounds like the State of New Jersey decided (or passed a law) to start charging taxes for TV service.

Hey, @Rockryan. Taxes are government-mandated charges (percentage-based or flat-fee) imposed by federal, state, or local statutes on the consumer and are not within DIRECTV's control. Rhyan, DIRECTV Community Team

Customer service is not informed on the specific state specific taxes or when those change. That is something you would have to check with your state on why the change. You may consider checking under "Digital Property" or "Digital Media" as a starting point.

Some states want their extra cut. On the satellite side a couple states (such as Florida) add a communications tax on top of their sales tax for the traditional satellite service.

I will say that sometimes the folks in accounting suddenly decide (or perhaps are assisted in this decision by an office of the state government) that something is taxable (or something in a package is taxable) and the charge will appear without a new action from the government.

And, no, that word would not get out to Customer Service.  Or the customer.

Jeffer isn't wrong.

There is (was?) a push amongst the traditional services like DirecTV, Charter and Comcast to get the streamers (Hulu, YouTube TV, etc) to charge taxes to make things more even.

The streamers insisted they're no different than a paid-access website and they shouldn't be taxed, since they're using the public internet.

Thank you all. I now know I must pay. 
I now just wonder why it took 6 months.